Stock-car partition



Filed July 10. 1925 gwntoz c. HWELLST ing loading and tation. V.

' Patented Oct. 2 5, 1927;

: jomr-Ensr Ares CHARLES H. wants, or

RAIBNrL nunrcorr unsaasxa; T

1 swoon-om Brahms; f

1 Application filed July 10,

'Having in view these objects'andothers which will be pointed out in the following description, I will now refer to the drawings, in which I F igure 1 is a-iview in perspect ve of vthe interior of a stock car and'showing also the stock car pai'tition and its track. v f Figure 2 is a transverse sectional V18W= of the stock car'showing the stock car partition in its latched position.

t Figure 3 i' a, view in perspective showing a detail of the tracks and its hanger, a portion of the track being broken away tQdlSf close the runners. Y Figure 4 is an illustratlonof thestock car equipped with my stock car partition and with a special form of bullb'oardvor apron and showing the manner 1n wh ch such car is loaded,

' Figure 5 is a plan view of the interior of a stock car with the bullboard or apron in -,Figure 6 is V V partition shiftedto confine the stock which and with/a partition .tor controlling the place betweenthe stock car and the truck movementlof the stock toward one end of the cart j a simllar v1ew showing the was first loaded and to guide the movements ofstock toward'the otherend of the car. I Figure 7 is a similar view showing theme of three partitions to form tour compartments'fin' the: car, three of which are shown asloaded; f YFigure 8 is a side elevation otthecar, the arrangement of partitions-being thesame as that shown in Figure 7 i J The partition itself-1s best shown in F gures 1 and 2, It consists of alternate series of slats 10 and 11,'the slats 10 being all secured together in parallel relation means of the straps 12 at their oppositefends. The

' slats 11 arepositioned between the slats 10 and are slidable n and out in the direction of their length, In order to cause simul- .taneous movement of theslats 11 they are 1e2s. Serial No; 21,507.1'

donate a the r inne if y an hr ,5

th t ap S aps 12,

distance abovethe upper slat '10 and they are connected at their upper endsby the beam'll.

i 1 mm project I upwardly to some i y Secured t'o beam lflc are links or chain's I 15,;,preferahly three in number, 'theseflinks being'c'onne'eted at'their upper ends with the ye 16 of the hange'r. j'The eyebolt 16 in turn connected: to the hanger 17 so "as'to,

swivel thereon. The hanger17 has the form I i v shown in' Figure'i with its; upper end 'pori tion vertical and having a'pair of rollers 18 journalled on the upper end 'portionof the hanger and on thetwolsidesthereof. "The track'19 is similar tothat trequently used for hanging sliding barn doors and the like and it consists of a hollow tubular portion hav-' ing a; longitudinal slit at its lower side. "This slitreceive's the upper end portion of the hanger 17, and the" inwardly'j'project'ing flangesjontlie lower Sideoi' the track 19 Serve astracks for the rollers 18. T Theftrack 19 is seoured to the eeiling'of thestock' car and is so designed that it ma be secured by means of the bolt'arrangement already found in all stock cars. This is done to'avoi'd the for the, hangers and thereby possibly' 'weakr necessity of providing additional-bolt holes eningtheconstruetion of thestock car. The r vertical dimensions of the various partsare H such that thefpart-ition will have'aslight clearance between its lower edge 'andthe floor of the stock car "so that it may be read ly moved about from-place to placein the stockcar along the track 19; The upper edge of the 'partitionis ona level fwith'the lower edge of the manhole in the end of the QStoc k cars are provided with uprights 2O of rather heavy construction and I make use of tli'eseinapply1ng'my stock'car partition to 'thev carf AdjacentEbut spacedfrom each upright 20I secure anfadditional upright 21 asj'shown in IFigureskl and 8. The up? rights 20 and 21 are spaced a distance equal to thethickn'essj' of 'theslats' ,1- of the par tition; Thepartition may thus be latched between the uprights 20 and 21 by: simply moving. th'ejslat's ,lllgoutwa'rdlyuntil they project betweenthe slats 2O- andji2l to pre- V vent movement of the partition. I findzit best to additionally 7 provide almetal strap '22 or the. like "between the uprights 20 and 21, the straps 22 serving as abutments for the rds, 9 e s ell: 1. T e Wher 1 no I firmly latched in position and the accidental unlatching is practically impossible be cause of the friction between the slats 10 and 11, but in order to prevent any possibility of accidental unlatching I provide pins 23 slidably secured in the upper slat 10 of-the partition, these pins being secured by means of flexible elements 24 connecting the upper ends of the pins 23 to the beam 14:. When the slats llare' in the position shown n Figure 2, the pins 23serve as abutments .to

r but it involves serious difliculties when clos ing the door of the 'stock car. 'After the bridge is removed and before the sliding door has been closed the crowding of the cattle in the car frequently forces some of the animals to the door with the result that they are apt to break their legs or to be otherwise seriously injured, In order to overcome this diiiic'ulty I hinge the bullboard 25to the'floor-of the car in such a manner that it may lie flat on the floor of the car or that it may be swung around through three quadrants until it is suspended perpendicularly on the outside of the car. Being secured'to'the car floor there 'canbe no danger whatever of its being displaced by the shufliing of the cattle. YVhen the car has been loaded the bullboard or apron 25 is lifted to its upright position while the sliding door is closed to thus serve as a tempo rary'closure. a

The partition in particular has a number of uses especially in connection with stock cars. It is, of course, very important in cutting'out and dividing the cattle in the manner shown in Figures 5 and 6. It is also 1 very important for dividing the stock in the earl Mixed shipments ofthe various animals do not, of 'course,travel well together and the freight rates are necessarily high on such shipments. Such mixed shipments are also liable to suffer serious injury which could be prevented by segregating the animals of the various groups in the manner shown in Figures 7 and 8. This is true not only when animals of several species are loaded butit is equally true when the shipment contains one or more vicious animals which are liable to seriously injure the others; j

Shipments of stock at the present time are the car. The use .of these beams necessarily involves a heavy waste of labor both in segregating the various groups of animals and' n securing the beams in place. These beamscause further trouble and loss of time when w unloading the shipment. The beams moreover are usually so badly split by the spikes hatth y a e e d m n con t on o be sed a second time, thus resulting in a serious waste of material. The work is apt to be done hastily with spikes left protruding in the car and with the wood of the car badly splitso that it is usually found that the car is badly in need of repairs after it has been once loaded and unloaded. If any'of the protruding spikes are accidentally left, the next shipment of cattle is very liable to be injured, thus causing further loss to the railroad company in damages. All of these objections are eliminated by the use of my stock car partition. v

"While my invention is designed primarily for use for segregating groups of animals in stock cars, it 'is useful alsofOlT dividing shipments of other forms of freight. WVith' slight modifications it may be used not only in freight cars but also as parti tions in trucks and in ships to form temporary compartments for compactly holding various kinds of matter and articles whi'ch are to be transported. The partitionwill also be found to be useful instoc-k yards and on stock farms since it affords a convenient device for dividing a pen into small or large compartments when it is desired to keep some of the animals separate from the rest for special treatment or rations; I

Having thus described my invention in such full, clear and exact terms that its con struction and utility will be readily under stood by others skilled in the art to which it pertains, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A stock car having lateral walls' consisting of a plurality of pairs of spaced uprights and horizontal beams conn-ecting'said uprights and'secured thereto in spaced apart relation, a portable partition in said stock car, said partition including horizontal fixed beams having a length "slightly less than the inner width of the car, said fixed beams being secured together in parallel and spaced apart relation, slidable beams between said fixed beams, said slidable beams being each formed of two oppositely slidable parts, a pair of strapsconnecting said slidable beams whereby all of" said slidable beams will be in two oppositely movable groups so that their extremities will enter the rectangular spaces between the uprights and the horizontal beams of the stock 7 car, and straps betweeneach pair of said uprights for limiting the outward movements of said slidable beams.

2. A stock car partition including a plurality of beams which are secured together in parallel and spaced apart relation, a plu-- rality of slidable beams between said first named beams, said slidable beams being each formed of two parts which are each slidable outwardly, straps connecting all of said parts on one side of the median line of said partition whereby said parts on either side of the median line may be slidably moved as a unit, means adapted to be secured to the frame of the stock car for limitingthe outward sliding movement of said slidable beams, a 7 pin which is adapted to pass through one of said first named beams to function as an abutment for the'inner ex.- tremity of one of said slidable beams for preventing the inward movement of said a slidable beams,and means for slidably sus- V pending said stock car partition in a stock 4 3. A stock car partition including a plurality of horizontally positioned beams in vertical and spaced apart relation, a pair of straps connecting said beams together, said straps projecting above the topmost beam f and being connected at their upper extremity by a supporting beam, slidable beams positioned between said first named beams,

said slidable beams being eachformed in two parts which are slidable in opposite directions, a pair of straps each connecting,

the parts of all of said slidable beams on the same side of the median line ofthe partition, ,said'first named straps serving as guidesfor the movements of theparts of said slidable beams, an abutment which is adapted to be securedto. the frame of the stock car for limiting the outward move-;

ment of said slidable beams,.'pins suspended from said supporting beam, said pins being adapted to pass through the uppermost o cured to the ceiling of the stock car in lengthwise position therewith.

In testimony whereof I afliX'my signature. CHARLES H. WELLS.

f said first named beams to serve as abutments 

